ICARUS/RISE concert DVD

ICARUS/RISE is a provocative and emotional multimedia theatrical performance of new Iranian poetry, translated, created and performed by Niloufar Talebi, with original score by Bobak Salehi, and choreography and video by Alex Ketley, featuring Chloe Felesina as Icarus. Woven of poems featured in BELONGING: New Poetry by Iranians Around the World (North Atlantic Books, 2008), and connecting the myth of Icarus with the solitary journey of the artist/immigrant in the quest for freedom, it tells the 30-year story of the migration of Iranians. ICARUS/RISE features powerful Iranian poets, including Ziba Karbassi, Mina Assadi, Yadollah Roya’i, Granaz Moussavi, Maryam Huleh, Abbas Saffari, Jamshid Moshkani, Amir Hossein Afrassiabi, and Shahrouz Rashid, the poet of “Icarus.”

ICARUS/RISE is inspired by the Iranian spoken word traditions of ‘Naghali‘ and ‘Pardeh-dari,’ which are practiced in the streets, cafes, public rituals, or ‘art music’ stage. By giving this spoken word tradition new content (new poetry in BELONGING) — rather than its usual content of classical Persian poetry and myths — and fusing it with western theatrical elements, ICARUS/RISE gives voice to hybrid-Iranians, reflecting their experience in contemporary society. View a sample video clip here. Read Niloufar Talebi’s article about oral storytelling traditions in Iran, ‘Memory of a Phoenix Feather‘ in the July/August 2009 issue of World Literature Today.